My sister and I had a box of dress-up clothes when I was a kid. It was just a bunch of old, eccentric clothing that my grandparents had in their basement that they allowed us to play in. We also had play-clothes at our own house. My favorite items were a red sequined vest and a pink shimmery shirt that was more like a shawl with sleeves. We also had a horrendously ugly black, curly-headed wig that we used to be very goofy with.

My sister always had an avant-garde flair for fashion. I have a picture of her rollerblading in a pink T-shirt with a blue-and-white striped tank top over it, a tulle skirt, and striped stockings, with a basketball in her hands. Even when she got older, she had a knack for putting together unconventional outfits. They distinctly described her creativity. She could’ve been a fashion designer. 🙂

We were both enamored of pretty dresses and drooled over the dresses of our favorite animated heroines. My sister’s favorite princess was Jasmine; mine was Belle. But we both adored the wardrobes of Anstasia and Princess Odette (“The Swan Princess”).

My sister even had the moxie to ask our dad’s mom to sew her a dress from a movie she watched. One day, when Grandma was visiting, she paused the movie at the prime spot and had Grandma come in and look at it long and hard until she got it down. Thankfully, Grandma loved to sew, especially for her kids and grandkids, and my sister got her wish.

When I have kids (and if they are girls), I will definitely offer up my old clothes to them to play dress-up in. I might even go to Goodwill and add some things to the box for their enjoyment (and mine!). I’ll include clip-on earrings and clunky costume jewelry of all types and see where their imaginations take them.

All girls should have a chance to be an old-fashioned princess sometimes.